


Plans

by RogueTranslator



Category: The Two Princes (Podcast)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Post-Season/Series 01, Pre-Season/Series 02, Romance, architecture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:08:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21995773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RogueTranslator/pseuds/RogueTranslator
Summary: On the site of the erstwhile Hollow of the Kings, Amir and Rupert plan out the design of their new home.This takes place between Seasons 1 and 2. I had the idea and started writing it a few months ago, but never got around to finishing it until now.
Relationships: Prince Amir/Prince Rupert (Two Princes Podcast)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 113





	Plans

“We need lots of secret passages. Obviously.” Rupert reached across the bed to pet Porridge. It was only midmorning, but the air in the tent was already sultry and humid. The climate of the Heartland would take some getting used to.

Amir continued tracing long, graceful lines on the parchment. “Of course.”

“Really?”

“Well, yeah. It’s important that we build some defensive redundancy into the design of the structure, in case the castle comes under siege.”

“Right.” Rupert rolled his eyes, sat up, and pulled aside the insect net to see Amir better. “And who’s going to siege us, again?”

“Barbarians from the north? People from across the sea? Rebellious nobles? We need to be prepared for anything if this seat of power is going to endure.”

“Can’t we have some rooms, like, just for fun?”

“Like what?”

“How about a room with a big swimming pool? And beach chairs, and a juice bar, and a hot tub?”

Amir reached across the desk for another sheet of parchment. “So, a gymnasium? For training?”

“Yup. That is definitely what I meant.”

“We’ll have that for sure, don’t worry.” He smiled at Rupert, then glanced over his shoulder at the thick curtains that hung over the tent’s door. “You don’t have to keep me company, you know. I can tell you’re bored.”

“I’m not—okay, I’m a little bored. And hungry.”

“Then go get something to eat!” Amir laughed and sat back in his chair. “I’ll be fine, I promise.”

“Alright, I’ll bring you something too. Just—” Rupert nearly tripped over Porridge’s tail as he crossed the tent. “Just don’t go making every room into an armory, or something.”

Amir tilted his head over the floor plan and waved Rupert off. “I’ll try to control myself.”

* * *

“I got you this.” Rupert slid a bowl of dried fruits, brown bread, and hard cheeses under Amir’s arms.

“Thanks,” Amir said, dropping his pen to the desk.

“It’s not much, but the cook told me the food will improve as the settlement gets bigger.”

“It looks delicious.” Amir scooped up a handful of sultanas and tossed them into his mouth one by one.

“So, how are things going in here?”

“Good; I was just considering the placement of the ravelins.”

“Let me guess,” Rupert said, as he peered over Amir’s shoulder at the diagrams. “That’s a military thing.”

“Well, it _is_ a castle. Its main purpose is to be a fortification that can control the surrounding area.”

“Okay, first of all, isn’t it a palace too? And second, isn’t its purpose also to be welcoming to our people? And to be—I don’t know, nice to look at? Comfortable to live in? Maybe even beautiful?”

“There’s beauty in strength,” Amir said patly.

Rupert sighed. “How did I know you’d say that?”

“Okay.” Amir leaned back with his bowl and broke the crust of bread into smaller pieces. “Well, I just finished with the ravelins on the southwestern face. So, I’m listening. What do you think we’re lacking?”

“Well, I can’t tell you _now_. You’re putting me on the spot.”

“Right.”

“Why are you smirking?”

“I’m not smirking.”

“You’re so smirking.”

Amir popped a hunk of cheese onto his tongue and raised his hands in acquiescence.

“Although, I did just think of something we need.”

“Hit me,” Amir said, and picked up his pen.

“A fountain. A really big and grand fountain in the middle of the courtyard. It’s hot here, and people can stop and cool down there.”

“Great idea. Every palace needs a fountain.”

“Oh ho, so it’s a palace now?”

“It’s still mostly a castle.” Amir sketched out the first outline of the courtyard. “But like you said, it’s other things too.”

“Is that a compromise I hear? Compromise is good.”

“Like I said, it’s still mostly—”

“Okay, Amir? There’s this saying we have in the West that goes, ‘quit while you’re ahead.’ I should tell you about it sometime.”

* * *

Rupert stopped fanning himself and sat up. It was late afternoon, and the tent was doing a remarkable job of trapping in the accumulated heat of the day. “What about fainting rooms?”

“Come again?”

“Fainting rooms. We definitely need them.”

Amir dabbed the sweat from his brow with a nearby cloth, then returned it to the bowl of jasmine-scented water beside his inkwell. “What, precisely, is a ‘fainting room?’”

“Exactly what it sounds like. They’re rooms where people go when they’re about to faint. Or where they’re carried after they’ve already fainted. Don’t you have them in the East?”

“No! The entire concept sounds ridiculous!”

In his sleep, Porridge perked up his ears in Amir’s direction.

“Okay, sheesh. No need to get so worked up about it.”

“Sorry, it’s just—I mean, how often do people faint in the West?”

“I don’t know, once in a while.”

“Right.” Amir rubbed his eyes.

“And I guess now you’ll tell me that no one faints in the East? Because everyone’s amazing and heroic twenty-four seven?”

“Sure, people faint back home, but they just lie down on the nearest divan. Or on a mat on the floor. I can’t fathom dedicating a room just to that.”

“Well, you better fathom it, buster. Because they’re going in our palace.”

Amir sighed and hung his head. “Okay. Alright. I think it’s a waste of resources and space which our castle desperately needs, but if you say you need them, then we’ll find a way.”

“What?” Rupert furrowed his brow. “I never said I needed them.”

“Then—why are we having this conversation?”

“They’re for when my mom visits!”

“Your mom?”

“Yeah, Mom uses the fainting room at least every day. Sometimes multiple times a day, depending on how much bad news the chamberlain has for her and how quickly he can deliver it.”

Amir dropped his pen and rested his forehead on the desk.

“Which, since he’s getting pretty old these days, isn’t very quick, let me tell you.”

“I feel like so much about you makes sense now,” Amir mumbled.

“Um, okay. In any case, I’m glad we’ve come to an agreement on the fainting rooms. Can you imagine my mother visiting us and not having anywhere to go when she faints? You don’t want to see what happens then, believe me.”

Amir rose from his desk and walked to the bed. “Do you want to go for a walk? It’s probably cooler outside than in here, and after that conversation, I could use a break, anyway.”

“Uh, sure.” Rupert took Amir’s outstretched hand and followed him to the tent’s door. “Porridge probably needs to stretch his legs too.”

* * *

Amir stopped at the top of the hillock overlooking the campsite and squeezed Rupert’s hand. From the ridge on the other side of the hollow, the foundations and incipient scaffolding of the new castle cast long shadows in the sunset.

“Should we have an orangery?”

Rupert pushed his damp, stringy hair away from his face. Even in the doldrums of summer, Amir only had one walking speed: a near-jog. “A what?”

“You know, a conservatory.”

“Oh. A greenhouse.”

“Since we’ll be in the middle of the continent, I want a way to grow the trees and crops from the East. It’ll be important to have the foods, flowers, medicines that I grew up with. Especially when Mom comes to visit.”

“Isn’t that, like, tempting fate?”

“Sorry?”

“Well, you know. Our fathers.”

“What about our fathers?”

“They were trees. Trees who lived pretty close to the spot on which we’re building this castle.”

“And?”

“And what if there’s still some magical…curse energy still swirling around? What if they come back in those trees?”

“Rupert, it’s not like we can avoid forests completely. They’re normal and necessary. We need wood for construction and shipbuilding, mushrooms and herbs and berries for medicine and food—”

“I know,” Rupert said reluctantly. “You’re right, I know.”

“Besides, don’t you remember? Our love broke the curse. That was the whole point of the prophecy. _We_ did that: you and me. So—"

Porridge’s approach cut him off; the dragonling deposited a bundle of dry branches at their feet.

“So?”

“So, everything’s going to be fine. We’re due some peace and quiet, at least.”

Rupert leaned into Amir’s shoulder and looked out over the dusty streets, the cooking fires, the singsong voices of the makeshift settlement below.

“And if any trees get any ideas,” Amir continued, gesturing to the pile of kindling. “Porridge will protect you.”

* * *

“Rupert?”

“Huh?” Rupert cracked open his eyes grudgingly.

“Were you awake?”

“Yes,” Rupert lied. “No. It doesn’t matter. What’s wrong?”

“Sorry. I can’t fall asleep; it’s too hot.” Amir was sitting up, his back as straight as a post.

“It’s all those muscles. They hold a lot of body heat.”

Amir snorted and looked down at him. “Yeah. Maybe you’re right.”

“It’s not anything else, is it? You’re not nervous about anything?”

“You know, considering the fact that I’m moving away from home, building a completely new city in the middle of nowhere, living together with people I considered barbarians only a few weeks ago, and—oh yeah—getting married to another man, I’m surprisingly serene.”

“Well, when you put it like that, it does seem crazy,” Rupert quipped.

“Hey, Rupert?”

“Hmm?”

“Never change, alright?”

“Okay,” Rupert said slowly. He rolled onto his side, propped himself up with his elbow. “Now I’m convinced something’s wrong.”

“No, it’s just—I was thinking that your parents and mine were like us once. Young, hopeful; they probably even loved each other. Only to turn out bitter and damaged and, in the case of our fathers, evil and twisted.”

Rupert reached out and stroked Amir’s upper arm. His bare skin was dewy in the moonlight that filtered in through the tent’s translucent fabric.

“’Everything’s going to be fine,’” Rupert quoted.

“Are you sure?”

“I don't know how much this is worth, but I’m more sure of you and me than I’ve been of anything in my life.”

“Yeah.” He rubbed his chin, grinned, and glanced at the desk. “Everything’s going to be fine. You’re right. I mean, I’m right. You—you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I do.” Rupert stood up and pushed one of the tent’s drapes to the side to let in more of the night air. The sky was clear and purple-black and strewn with more stars than Rupert had even known existed until he’d met Amir.

“Ah.” Amir glanced up at the sudden breeze and soughed. “That’s nice.”

“Alright, hot stuff.” Rupert lay down again and pulled Amir into the sheet with him. “Time to get some rest. And if you wake me up again, I’ll replace all your spear closets with snack cupboards.”

“Is that right?” Amir caressed the valley of Rupert’s back and laughed. “All the spear closets? That might take you a while.”

“I can eat a lot of snacks,” Rupert muttered into his pillow.

Amir kissed his cheek, let out a long breath, and settled his head down under the little patch of moon and stars that Rupert had created for them.


End file.
